Trinder receives England call up for Barbarians game

Centre Henry Trinder is one of a quintet of Gloucester Rugby players who are named in a 24 man England squad to take on the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday (kick off 2:30pm).

Also named in the squad are Dave Attwood, Paul Doran-Jones, Luke Narraway and James Simpson-Daniel.

There are 11 players capped at senior level in the 24-man group, with fly half Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks) the most experienced and the likes of Ugo Monye (Harlequins), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby) and Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby) providing the cutting edge.

But the overall accent is firmly on youth in a squad with an average age of 24 years and two months.

Eight, including Trinder, are graduates of the England Under 20 sides that reached IRB Junior World Championship finals in 2008 and 2009 and there are two 20-year-olds in the shape of props Joe Marler (Harlequins) and Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons).

There is also a potential first appearance in an England shirt in the 15-a-side game in store for Exeter Chiefs flanker Tom Johnson while eight players were in European Cup final action for Harlequins and Northampton Saints over the weekend.

Leicester Tigers and Saracens players are unavailable for this game due to the Aviva Premiership final taking place at Twickenham Stadium the previous day.

The side for the non-capped match will be prepared by the England Saxons head coach Stuart Lancaster and assisted by Jon Callard and Simon Hardy.

"It's a great opportunity for all the players who are looking to force their way into Martin Johnson's plans for the World Cup and those who will go on to defend the Churchill Cup with the England Saxons next month," said Lancaster.

"We face a very big challenge against the Barbarians, who have a very experienced squad in terms of their average age and number of caps. But there's a great deal of quality in the England system at the moment and a lot of these young players will get a chance to benchmark themselves against the best. We've seen that in the way the likes of Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes, Alex Corbisiero have taken their chances recently.

"A lot of the players have played in big games recently both in Europe and the Aviva Premiership. If we combine them with some of the more experienced players like Paul and Charlie Hodgson, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel, it should be an exciting combination."

The Barbarians, who will include the likes of Mathieu Bastareaud and Frederic Michalak (France), Joe Van Niekerk (South Africa), Carl Hayman (New Zealand), Martyn Williams (Wales) and Sergio Parisse (Italy), are due to announce their squad later today.

England, who train at Bath for the early part of this week, are due to name their starting line-up on Wednesday at 10am.

Argentine international Mariano Galarza made his Gloucester Rugby debut on Sunday afternoon, and despite a disappointing reverse to Sale Sharks, the giant Puma was just glad to be making his long-awaited bow in Cherry and White.

Having skippered Scotland to a hard fought 25-13 defeat against England at Twickenham on Saturday, Greig Laidlaw spoke of the frustrations of his side doing so many good things and making real progress as a team but still finishing on the wrong end of the scoreline.

GRTV caught up with Neil McCarthy as he was unveiled as the new Head of Academy. The ex-Gloucester front rower is looking forward to getting to work with the vast arrays of talent in the Academy and across Gloucestershire.

Although understandably disappointed to see Northampton snatch a 33-33 draw with a last gasp try on Saturday, Gareth Evans told GRTV after the game that the result shows how far Gloucester have come as a team this season.

Gloucester scrum half Greig Laidlaw spoke to GRTV after the 33-33 draw with Northampton Saints on Saturday, and the Scotsman described how the hosts played some great rugby, but will rue not holding the lead which keeps them in touch with the top seven.

Although Gloucester could take many positives from the 33-33 draw with Northampton Saints on Saturday, centre Bill Meakes admitted it was a strange feeling at the final whistle with Gloucester having probably done enough to win the game.

Speaking after the 33-33 draw with Northampton Saints on Saturday, David Humphreys admitted that he was happy with many aspects of the team's performance but regretted a missed opportunity to defeat the Premiership champions.

Hartpury U18s won the AASE league for the sixth year in a row last week beating Filton College in the Final at Allianz Park by 50 points to nil, while Bromsgrove School won their first NatWest U18 Schools Cup.

Gloucester Rugby would like to inform supporters about an exciting opportunity for you to raise money for your chosen charity or chosen cause. 2015 is an exciting year for Gloucester, with Kingsholm Stadium hosting four fixtures for Rugby World Cup 2015.